Hail to the Champs

It's two straight Division II national championships in football for Coach Brian Kelly and the Grand Valley Lakers.

On Saturday,in Florence, Alabama, the Lakers got a late interception by senior linebacker Mike Hoad to seal a 10-3 win over North Dakota. The win for Grand Valley in the title game marked the Lakers' sixth straight win away from Allendale to finish the 2003 season.

Leading 3-0 at half-time, the Lakers saw defensive back Lucius Hawkins make a key play of the game when he forced quarterbac k John Bowenkamp to fumble deep in Laker territory. Hawkins then returned the fumble 59 yards to set up the game's only touchdown, a one-yard run by Michael Tennessee.

After a fourth quarter North Dakota field goal, the Fighting Sioux drove the ball down the field in the game's closing minutes when Bowenkamp's fourth down pass was picked off by Hoad with 20 seconds left in the game to preserve the Laker victory.

Laker freshman quarterback Cullen Finnerty led the Lakers offensively completing 19 of 29 pa sses for 149 yards. Finnerty also led the Lakers in rushing, carrying 19 times for 86 yards.

Grand Valley finishes the year 14-1 and has now won 47 of its last 49 games. An estimated 5,000 Laker fans traveled to Florence to see Grand Valley play in the title game for the third straight year. Many thousands more watched the Laker victory on a national television broadcast by ESPN.